The world’s leading mobile phone maker Nokia, does not exact to see returns from its investment in internet services until 2010, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said on Monday.

Nokia has invested “hundreds of millions of euros” in services such as mobile music and video downloads in 2007 with an aim to gain a competitive edge against rivals but it warned that it does not expect to see a big pay-back any time soon.

Speaking at the Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York, Simonson said, “We’re going to continue to invest at that rate or more as we are in investment mode in 2008 and 2009. We look for 2010 to start to see where you go from investment mode … to getting more out than you’re putting in.”

Services represented only about 84 million euro revenue ($130 million) for Nokia in the first quarter out of total company net sales of 12.66 billion euro, Simonson added, “We’ve got to get somewhere into the billions in terms of top line revenue to make this relevant.”

The executive said that Nokia, who already lead the global market with a 40 percent share, were looking to profitably improve market share on phone volume and value basis in the global phone market in 2008.

While the company has been successful globally, in North America the market share dropped to just nine percent at the end of 2007. Nokia believe they can turn its US fortunes around by custom-designing phones for US operators such as At&T and Verizon Wireless.

“We have to have double-digit market share to be relevant in the U.S.,” Simonson said, adding that he expects this to happen by the second quarter of 2009.

“Anything short of that would not be a success,” he said.

Simonson said the smartphone market is expected to grow by 50 percent to up to 180 million units in 2008, from 120 million in 2007.

“Maybe its 50 or 55 or 45%. Who knows … That market is growing at a fast pace compared to the overall market. I don’t see that changing,” he said.

Noting that rivals Motorola and LG Sony Ericsson have global market shares below 10%, Simonson said it was “very difficult” for them to compete at those levels.

“To play globally and to play across the various markets, I think it’s difficult and unsustainable if you’re not at this 15 % and above scale,” he said, noting that scale helps in sales and marketing as well as research and development.

Qualcomm Inc. have beaten several other bidders for 40 MHz (1452-1492 MHz) of L-Band radio spectrum in UK comms regulator Ofcom’s latest auction of frequencies, and is most likely use the frequencies for a mobile TV service with partners.

Ofcom said the chip group’s subsidiary, Qualcomm UK Spectrum Ltd, paid £8.34 million for the spectrum.

Late last month, when it started the auction for the L-band — part of a much wider sell-off of around 400MHz of valuable spectrum by the regulator over the coming year — Ofcom indicated it expected to get a minimum of £50,000 per 1.7 MHz block and £150,000 for the 12.5 MHz block, bringing the total reserve amount to £950,000.

Qualcomm and Ofcom have both stressed the spectrum acquired is technology neutral and can be used for wireless broadband or satellite radio, the most likely scenario is that it will be used for a MediaFlo based mobile TV service.

Qualcomm are the developer’s of the MediaFlo technology and are already using it for delivering content to mobile phones in the U.S in partnership with Verizon and AT&T, and it has already been tested in the U.K. with partners including pay TV provider BSkyB.

The on-line auction was held earlier this month and also included mobile phone operator O2, Arqiva Limited and The Joint Radio Company, amongst others.

“Qualcomm has a long history of innovation and creating new technology markets,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of Qualcomm.

“Acquiring this spectrum will enable us to develop, test and explore a variety of innovative wireless services and technologies that will benefit European consumers and the wireless industry as a whole.”

Is it wrong to ‘steal’ someone’s unsecured wireless connection? I’m pretty sure everyone’s done it in the past.

Picture the scene: You’re sitting in the park on your lunch break, you switch your laptop on to check some dull work spreadsheet and low and behold, up pop’s a connection notice…

Do you A: Ignore the temptation and get back to working on your lunch break? (Sad) or B: Sneakily click on connect and check your Facebook?

Well, if you chose ‘A’ you don’t need to read the rest of this article, if you said ‘B’, according to the Communications Act 2003 – you are a criminal.

The Act states “person who (a) dishonestly obtains an electronic communications service, and (b) does so with intent to avoid payment of a charge applicable to the provision of that service, is guilty of an offence”.

There are also suggestions that using someone else’s wireless connection could come under the Computer Misuse Act, usually used to combat hacking and electronic fraud.

Sure, Heavy downloading may affect the users speed or download limit, but using the connection top check an email is not likely to be noticed. These “victims” aren’t likely to suffer too much.

Philosopher Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, says that with technology moving so fast, socially accepted moral positions can be slow to solidify.

“I haven’t thought about it. I’m not sure anybody has. It might be one of those areas where cultural norms haven’t evolved or stabilised yet. It’s so new it’s not clear whether it’s stealing or not. And sometimes the law trails public norms.

“If you steal a silver Mont Blanc pen it’s theft but if it’s an ordinary ballpoint pen or a pencil it is assumed you can take it.

“In the olden days people had norms about whether you were able to pick apples from someone else’s tree. Perhaps it’s OK if the branches hang over the road, but not from inside their garden. You have generally shared expectations.”

Philosopher Julian Baggini says he can’t see what all the fuss is about.

“I’m pro the stealers on this one. If you are doing it systematically to avoid chipping in your bit you are a freeloader and that’s immoral.

“But casual and occasional use while travelling is a bit like reading your book from the light coming out from someone’s window. It’s like eating someone’s leftovers.”

And he’s happy to practice what he preaches.

“I’ve done it and I don’t put a password on my own connection. For all I know that’s what someone’s doing now.

“But the fact that something is morally acceptable doesn’t change the fact of its illegality. The rule of law is an important factor.”

An internet service provider (ISP) might argue it is the victim of wireless theft. If people could use other people’s wireless, why buy their own?

The idea of “piggybacking” off somebody else’s system harks back to the dawn of the internet and the phone phreaking - gaining free calls by cracking the systems - that inspired many technology pioneers.

Barry Fox, contributing editor for Europe Consumer Electronics Daily, says unsecured networks are getting fewer and fewer, but the real moral issue is why computer firms don’t take more responsibility for their customers’ security.

“When I’m in London I’m in a block of flats, I scan and find unsecured networks. When I first started there were any number of free and unsecured networks, now it’s mainly secured networks because many of the ISPs have made it much easier.

“There is a view that if people are daft enough to throw their signal out for anyone to pick up they deserve what they get.

“On the other hand, the computer manufacturers have never done anything to make things easier for the consumer, unless forced to.”

In my opinion, I think that it’s up to the owner of the network to ensure it’s secure. If they need to leave it fairly open for their workers you can’t go too wrong with a username and password.

What do you think? Is it stealing or is it like watching fireworks display – something you enjoy that you probably didn’t pay a penny for?

IBM have released additional Lotus software fro Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry platform, moving in to the Web 2.0 social networking applications.

IBM already offers core Lotus software that includes Notes based e-mail, portals, dashboards, messaging, calendaring and instant messaging, the company is adding Blackberry client for IBM Lotus connections, which is IBM’s social software for businesses.

With forecasters predicting that by 2012 there will be more than 800 million worldwide mobile network users (its stands at 82 million currently), you can see why IBM decided to get the ball rolling with this release. This year IBM said that more people in the world will have a mobile device than a landline telephone and predicted that there will be 1 billion mobile web users by 2011.

Bob Picciano, IBM general manager of the Lotus software said, “As the world enters the ‘Era of the Mobile Web,’ mobile devices like BlackBerry are outnumbering TVs, credit cards and PCs, and are becoming increasingly critical to business operations for companies of all sizes globally.”

Commenting on IBM’s release, Tony Rizzo, director of mobile software analysis for The 451 Group said, “The demand for social networking derived business networking is nascent still but will, in short order, become huge — very important as we go into 2010 and the Facebook generation becomes a more direct part of the workforce.”

He added, “Lotus owns about 48 percent of all corporate seats in terms of e-mail, etc. So it plays a huge enterprise role relative to where mobility is headed. All of the announcements with RIM are critical for IBM to maintain ongoing growth on the Lotus end.”

In addition to BlackBerry Client for Lotus Connections, IBM and RIM added IBM’s Cognos 8 Go Mobile business intelligence software to its lineup. IBM says is the industry’s first business intelligence solution designed specifically for the BlackBerry platform and that it provides personalized secure business information via dashboard-style reports.

In related news, IBM and RIM also announced that IBM has added new hosting capabilities so that IBM can support the BlackBerry platform. IBM has joined the BlackBerry System Integrator (SI) Alliance Program, and will expand its portfolio of Managed Wireless Services for the BlackBerry platform.

Ray Barnard, vice president and CIO of Fluor Corporation said, “In today’s business world, BlackBerry is as essential to our organization as network connectivity, phone and e-mail. At Fluor, we count on BlackBerry to speed our decision making, help solve problems and improve execution.”

“We count on IBM to deliver this essential service and to collaborate with our business partners to innovate on new mobile applications that further our competitive advantage,” he added.

Over six years after development started, Bluetooth SIG’s Advanced Audio Distribution profile (A2DP) is now making its way on to wireless devices. The purpose of A2DP is to enable stereo output for wireless headphones.

A2DP is not particularly popular at the moment, but some people will begin to cotton on to the fact that if you spend all you’re hard earned cash on something like the iPhone and pair it up with a Bluetooth headset expecting the same quality as from your MP3 player, you will likely be disappointed.

Apple could effectively add A2DP at any time they desire even though most reports say the update won’t be on the software development kit (SDK).

Mark Pundsack, the president of Wi-Gear attempts to shed some light on the feature, “A2DP is for all intents and purposes a geek’s luxury at this point. Really only in the last year has A2DP been in cell phones. It’s just not that obvious,”

The majority of experts agree that the most technical obstacle is battery life. To transmit stereo audio wirelessly, regardless of the communications protocol, requires the transmitter to be switched on the entire time. A2DP output could drain talk time by around 10 percent or more, Bluetooth SIG Executive Director Mike Foley says. There are also financial reasons not to include the feature. High-end H2DP implementations often require an additional DSP chip, driving up the parts cost.

Foley targeted Apple recently in his blog, “As hard to believe as it is, the iPhone does not enable stereo headphones … Supporting stereo for headphones, car stereos, portable speakers and home stereos is a simple extension.”

“If the iPhone implements the standardized Bluetooth stereo profile, the device will work with headphones, cars, home stereos and portable speakers from any manufacturer. While this is great for the consumer, it isn’t as great for Apple’s bottom line. Apple may be under the impression that they can create an entire ecosystem of wireless peripherals for the iPhone and iPod in which they control by licensing the proprietary interface into the devices,” Foley continues. “I’ve asked Apple what the rationale was for not enabling more Bluetooth features in the iPhone, but as of yet, have not received a reply,” he says.

With industry speculation that interference between the telephone radio and Bluetooth radio holding back the rollout of A2DP 1.2, which the latest version, Foley explains that this is simply not true, “We probably have more Bluetooth devices per square foot in the country and we also run Wi-Fi and things like that, and we don’t see any issues. It’s been out there long enough. All these sorts of concerns don’t hold water any more.”

One possible solution to the A2DP power problem is Wibree. This became part of the Bluetooth portfolio last summer after being originally pushed by Nokia. Designed for low-power devices such as clock radios and wristwatches, the specification will be published in the first half of 2009.

David Favreau, senior director of product management at Qualcomm said, “In general, we found that the A2DP standard has been very well-defined for some time now. The technical challenges themselves are really not that substantial for implementing the technology. Certainly there are things from vendor to vendor that impact things such as battery life and audio quality to some degree.”

Due to the costs associated with expanding, Clearwire have reported first-quarter losses. The Kirkland, Washington based company posted a loss of $176.4 million, or $1.08 per share. At the same time last year they posted a loss of ‘just’ $92.6 million, or 64 cents per share.

Although losses almost doubled, Clearwire reported revenue rose 76 percent to $51.5 million from $29.3 million last year, and that they have added 48,000 net new subscribers during the quarter. Total Clearwire subscribers amount to 443,000.

Benjamin Wolff said in a statement, “We began 2008 with an impressive first quarter across all major metrics. Our revenues grew a noteworthy 76% over last year’s first quarter.

“This was the result of the solid subscriber growth, as well as our successful expansion of service offerings to include residential voice service in more markets and a PC Card. We remain focused on increasing shareholder value by leveraging our residential broadband services, coupled with our dedication to customer satisfaction.”

Last week Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced plans to create a $14.55 billion communications company that hopes to offer wireless broadband services across the country.

In related news,

Sprint Nextel’s largest independent affiliate, iPCS, announced that three of its subsidiaries have filed a lawsuit against Sprint Nextel, claiming that the new deal between them and Clearwire breaches iPCS’s exclusive arrangement with the carrier.

iPCS is seeking declaratory judgment that Sprint Nextel’s arrangement with Clearwire would allow it to compete against iPCS and is therefore a breach of contract.

iPCS is demanding a permanent injunction keeping Spint Nextel from consummating its planned WiMAX transaction until the arrangements have been modified to comply with iPCS’ agreements with Sprint.

iPCS released a statement on the issue: “iPCS believes that Sprint Nextel’s recently announced WiMAX transaction is yet another attempt by Sprint Nextel to breach the exclusivity provisions of the iPCS affiliation agreements. iPCS intends to fully and aggressively protect and defend its exclusivity rights,”

Last week Sprint filed a request at the Court of Chancery in Delaware for a declaratory ruling that its proposed venture with Clearwire was not in violation of its agreements with iPCS. Sprint said that iPCS’ suit is “simply a response” to the carrier’s request filed in Delaware.

Blackberry has launched its first tri-band – 850/1900/2100MHz – HSDPA 3G handset, understatedly called ‘Bold’.

The phone’s manufacturer RIM states tht the quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge Bold – otherwise known as Blackberry 9000 – is built from “premium materials”, both inside and out.

The handset is finished in an almost leathery material and inside the Bold has an integrated GPS and 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi.

The Bold sports a slot for up to a 16GB SD/SDHC memory card to support the 9000’s 1GB on-board storage, which will be great for all those emails – which Blackberry boasts can be sent and received during a phone call. There is also Bluetooth 2.0 built in to the handset.

The BlackBerry Bold uses smartphone’s 624-MHz processor. So you can multitask and prioritize with access to your voice and data services at the same time. With built-in GPS capabilities, and BlackBerry Maps, you get turn-by-turn directions, so you can pinpoint where you are at any time.

The Bold also houses a two Megapixel camera with a 5x digital zoom. Images are displayed on the handset’s 320 x 480 display.

There is a media player for all your music, images and video to be played with audio backing – which can be played out the device’s dual speakers. There is a range of pre-set music modes, including Hip Hop and Jazz.

RIM’s Blackberry Bold handset will be available globally this summer, but a specific UK release or price hasn’t been pushed out yet.

Apple’s iPhone is likely to see new third-party applications soon.

Over 100,000 developers have downloaded the free software development kit (SDK) Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled last week.

Several big name software firms issued statements supporting the SDK, which is currently available as a beta or test form. The complete version, which will include the launch of online Apps store (the only Apple-authorised distribution method for iPhone software), isn’t out till June.

Business software makers Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) and NetSuite (NYSE: N) along with blogging tools provider Six Apart, said they planned to develop for the iPhone using the SDK. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and Epocrates (a maker of decision support tools on mobile devices for healthcare) announced their support at last week’s event.

Games companies also said to day said they are developing for the iPhone. These include; THQ Wireless, Rocket Mobile, PopCap, Electronic Arts and Sega.

The new developer announcements also follow last week’s news that high profile Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has launched a $100 million “iFund” dedicated to funding iPhone-related software and services.

Rick Jensen, senior vice president of Intuit’s small business group said, “The iPhone SDK gives us the tools we need to create powerful iPhone applications and is an important part of our overall mobile strategy.

“We’re excited that the iPhone expands the ways our customers can solve key financial tasks wherever they might be.”

Other developers have similar optimism that the iPhone will allow professionals to get more done on the go.

“NetSuite is excited at the opportunity to give every iPhone customer access to their critical business data anytime, anywhere,” said Luke Braud, vice president of software development at NetSuite.

Chris Alden, CEO of Six Apart, said his company is using the SDK to build on the iPhone-optimized blog service it already offers. “We’re taking it to the next level with our native iPhone application for TypePad that’s already in development,” he said.

Best Buy Co. Inc. is looking to step up its European mobile phone business with a $2.14 billion investment.

The American retail giant is in the process of acquiring a 50 percent stake in The Carphone Warehouse Group plc’s mobile retail operations, creating a joint project that will help launch the Best Buy brand across the Atlantic. The new company will operate 2,400 stores in nine European countries under both companies’ brands in addition to Carphone Warehouse’s mobile virtual network operator service in every country except France.

Both companies have said they hope to expand Carphone Warehouse’s existing European footprint and will be rolling out new stores under the Best Buy name by the start of next year. The UK based retailer will maintain its fixed-line telecom business.

The deal will help solidify an 18 month relationship between the two companies that seeks to join Carphone Warehouse’s strength as a high street retailer and Best Buy’s sourcing and distribution expertise. This relationship signals Best Buy’s desire to expand beyond mobile phones and in to the broader world of consumer electronics.

Carphone Warehouse’s CEO Charles Dunstone said, “we have been working closely with Best Buy for nearly two years and it is clear that we have very complementary culture, skills and assets — it’s a perfect match. … Best Buy brings demonstrable expertise in merchandising, sourcing and customer service: that should help us accelerate the evolution of our business towards the broader connectivity market. We bring local knowledge, infrastructure and the expertise in linking services to product: that should help them push into larger-format consumer electronics retailing in Europe.”

The deal should be completed, on approval of Carphone Warehouse’s shareholders, by August 30th.

The long-rumored national mobile WiMAX partnership between Sprint and Clearwire is now official, both companies have announced.

The new company will be called Clearwire, of which Sprint will own 51 percent. Intel, Comcast, Google, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks combined are investing $3.2 billion based on a $20 estimated per-share price when Clearwire opens on the NASDAQ when the deal reaches completion later this year.

Dan Hesse, Sprint’s president and CEO said in a statement: “We’ve made an excellent start developing XOHM WiMAX services. Contributing those advances to a strongly backed new company – in which we’ll hold the largest interest – provides Sprint with additional financial flexibility and allows Sprint management to leverage and focus on our core business.”

“Additionally, the agreements allowing the new company and our cable company investors to bundle and resell Sprint’s 3G wireless services strengthen the distribution of our current services while reducing the complexity and enhancing Sprint’s cable relationships,” he added.

Clearwire CEO Benjamin Wolff also commented: “Given the complexity of this transaction, we have taken the time and effort to do it right, by thoughtfully leveraging the resources and opportunities that we and our investors are bringing to the table.”

Clearwire plans to reach around 130 million people in the United States by the end of 2010. The company will use Sprint’s towers, fiber network and IT support.

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Clearwire will become wholesale resellers of sprints 3G wireless voice and data services with Google handling the web service side of the business and be the official search partner for Sprints mobile services. Intel will work with component suppliers to embed WiMAX chips in to the Centrino 2-based devices such as laptops and other Internet appliances.

Wolff becomes CEO of the new Clearwire, with Sprint’s Chief Technology Officer Barry West serving as president.